Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Mapping the Texas Triangle

Texas Triangle Tragedies maps the number of fatal accidents in Texas from 2005 to 2014. The map picks out what it calls the 'Texas Triangle', an area outlined by I-35, I-45 and I-10, which has a high concentration of traffic accidents.

I like the consistent design on the interactive map in this report. The aesthetic of highway signs is used for the timeline, legend and for the information windows. The map itself however isn't particularly revealing. As the introduction to the map points out this area has a densely concentrated population. So with more people, and presumably more traffic, we might expect this area to have a higher concentration of accidents than elsewhere in the state.

Texas Triangle Tragedies draws attention to the fact that the "number of traffic fatalities has remained relatively flat comparing the years 2005 and 2014". The site's analysis of the notable contributing factors to the traffic accidents is probably more revealing than the map itself. It shows that driving under the influence is a leading contributor to accidents and that "alcohol-related traffic fatalities increased by more than 20 percent during the time period".

If the Texas Triangle Tragedies map included an option to allow you to filter the accidents shown by contributing causes it could possibly reveal some interesting spatial patterns about where these different types of accidents occur.